For Sarah Palin, Saturday Night Live gets Tina Fey out of retirement. No such love for Matt Gonzalez: When Weekend Update’s anchor asks the guy playing Ralph Nader about his running mate, Nader pulls out a Spanish-speaking sock puppet named Manuel. Link.
Previously on Mission Mission:
Graying Matt Gonzalez Photographed a Lot at Soap Gallery Opening
Mission Mission 
please. they make caricatures of Palin every single week. I don’t hear(read) you complain then. it’s a comedy show. it’s what they do.
not racist, imo. but i’m lily white, so…
I’m not complaining.
I saw that and when he pulled out the puppet and put on the “hispanic” accent I definitely felt like it was a little weird.
Palin- Sounds EXACTLY as she was portrayed.
Gonzalez- Has no discernible accent. But, because he’s of hispanic origin, it’s somehow funny and not-racist to give him an accent.
This is a textbook example of racism in the media. Will it harm our children? Probably not.
Was it lame? Definitely.
definitely lame. definitely racist.
What if the SNL writer of this bit was of Hispanic origin?
SNL is not the “media.”
Do people outside of SF know Matt? Probably not.
The bit wasn’t funny, but there is a thin line between humor and racism. It’s only racist when it’s not funny.
Identity games always equal a fail. It doesn’t matter who the writer was, especially in this circumstance when there was no real play on stereotypes, it was simply stereotyping.
Of course SNL is part of the media. Do you understand what that term means?
My guess is they saw his name, decided he was hispanic, decided they would go for some lazy laughs with a lame hispanic accent.
As I said, it was definitely racist (because of what I’d mentioned), but at the same time, is such a tired form of it that I doubt it will have any real effect on anyone (besides making SNL look like what it is- lame and out of touch.)
“It’s only racist when it’s not funny.”
This comment would be funny if it weren’t so ignorant.
The parody of Nader was somewhat funny — I don’t really get the point of the sock puppet but one has to be be pretty hyper-sensitive to think it was racist. Of course, this being SF, it is not suprising that people think it was.
i just want to say how refreshed i am to have 2 concurrent posts where i am agreeing with jimbeam.
sorry to be self-centered (ha), but there ya go.
“This comment would be funny if it weren’t so ignorant.”
What about the daily show? Usually hilarious and it flirts with off-color humor all the time. (Rob Riggle pulls his eyes apart when in Beijing). Everyone loves to hate SNL, but to hell with you if you were to accuse the Daily Show writers of typical racism and stereotyping. I agree with you – it is a tired from rather you laugh or not.
I do know what “media” is, but in my shortsighted post I was really thinking “press” when I wrote “media.” Whoops.
I found it offensive and still do. Yet in retrospective, this might have been a really, really, lame attempt at doing a riff on Señor Wences.
It is appalling how bad SNL has gotten and there isn’t enough nitrous oxide or marijuana in this world that could make it funny again.
Dude, Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals is HYSTERICAL… if you like Mark Wahlberg.
I think this proves zinzin that I’m not “progressive,” but instead progressive. ;)
either that or i am becoming “progressive”.
let’s go with your version.
Seriously, has there been anything on SNL this season aside Andy Samberg that’s been remotely funny? What’s the opposite of funny? -Because that’s what Will Forte is.
And if it’s true that it’s only racist if it’s not funny, then this season’s been like a televised David Duke-hosted Klan meeting way before that bit.
Actually, normally I hate that Andy guy. If it weren’t for that spot-on Wahlberg of his…
I am the opposite. I thought the Wahlberg spot was ok, but I love the more absurd stuff like “Andy pops into frame” and “Punching people eating”
I’m in New Jersey, and I was disappointed with SNL’s Nader/Gonzalez skit. I don’t think I’m being too sensitive on this either. I generally enjoy SNL; I watch it every week.
But, it sort of hurt to have the candidate that I belive so strongly in, that I collected petition signatures for, made phone calls for, raised money for, threw a house party for, written countless blog entries for, written to the editor of my local newspapers for, handed out endless literature for, went door-to-door canvassing for, posted signs for, slapped a bumpersticker on my car for, etc… represented by a tube sock hand puppet with a spanish accent.
Now, of course SNL pokes fun at all the candidates; no doubt. But, Nader/Gonzalez gets little to no coverage in the mainstream media, as it is. So, for many people watching SNL last week, it was their first time even hearing about the Nader/Gonzalez campaign.
If only the viewers knew: Nader/Gonzalez stands on the opposite side of the political fence from Obama/McCain. http://www.votenader.org/issues
The so called new “liberal presses” i. e. MSNBC, Huffington Post, seem to have the idea that Nader and Gonzalez do not exist. Never any mention of their campaigning. They have never even issued a profile of Gonzalez, and his attributes. I realize these new presses were created to offset the generally republican rah rah Fox not news, but to not admit the existence of other presidential candidates almost makes them the same as Fox news. The new presses are terrified of Obama losing the election, and we know here in America, the land of the free and the brave, and moose hunting not moms, anything can happen. I am just happy to live in California, the Mooselini will not be elected, and I can safely vote for Senor Gonzalez.
Matt Gonzalez is a fine lawyer and friend, please
check out his career. Do a little research and then email SNL
your thoughts on the sock. Thanks.
Also see http://www.gonzalezleigh.com and of course http://www.votenader.org
At least Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton were spoofed as real people – as minorities slowly disappear from SNL and earnestly funny people die off, SNL seems to be digging further in the trenches for decent comedy.